Chapter 2 Francesca

The weather at Hogwarts had been warmer than usual this year. The grounds were still green and the sun was shining, but there was a wind from the north.

Ginny, Angel and Liam walked through the Hogwart's lawn towards their favorite tree. Even the cold wind on Angel's face felt wonderful. No more classes until tomorrow!

"Glad you thought better of what else you were wanting to do in potions," smiled Ginny. " Making the flames rise under Cameron's caldron so that the stuff would bubble over was not a good idea."

How did she know that was what he was thinking? It always seemed strange, but ever since he met Ginny in first year, she seemed to be able to read his mind and he could often guess what she was going to do next.

He stood gazing at Ginny when something came soaring through the air and hit him square in the middle of his forehead.

"ouch!" cried Angel, "What the..?"

He looked down and saw a red card. As Angel leaned down to pick up the card, he could hear Ginny giggling. "That will be from Luna," she said.

Sure enough, Luna was sitting a few yards away. She waved at him and then looking down, began reading again. Angel couldn't understand why the note had hurt so much when it hit his head. He opened the note and saw two Gryffindor lions with the letters XVI embossed in gold. And there was a charm inside. He decided to wait until later to ask Luna what the charm was for.

They settled themselves beneath the large beech tree, Liam and Ginny looking for pictures in the clouds, Angel opening all his other cards.

They had been at this for only a few minutes when Ginny looked up and said with a smile,
"Francesca! I didn't expect to see you until after winter break."

"How's your mother, Franny?" said Liam

"She's seems better. Just glad Professor Dumbledore let me visit her for a bit. He says I can make up my classes in the evenings after winter break"

Francesca was a tall red haired girl with bright green eyes. She wore her hair straight and it reached half way down her back. She was in Gryffindor, in Ginny's dorm, but she was muggle born, and as far as Francesca knew, the only witch in her family.

"Guess what?" Francesca said as she took her place under the tree, "My great aunt Jessica came to take care of my mum while she is sick.…… Do you want to see a picture of Aunt Jessi?" she said as she took out parchment and pastels. Everyone watched as Francesca drew a woman with a dark, long braid, wearing a long patched bluejean skirt and paisley batwing blouse. She had pink painted toenails with a letter on each nail. The words "John Lives" was written across her toes. On the big toe between the words John and Lives, there was a butterfly. Everyone giggled.

"Do you think she's a wizard in muggle disguise?" chortled Angel.
"Time Turner?" asked Liam.
Everyone laughed.

"Yes, the rest of family won't talk to her. Think she's lost her marbles. They say she's not real family. Just married into it. But my mum loves her," said Francesca.

" You know, aunt Jessi's pretty cool, though. She is the one who made sure I came back to Hogwarts for these few days before winter break. Says I need to get out with my friends for awhile."

"She really began to get me, though. One evening she was downstairs, doing her macramé, she began talking to me about the "old days". You know, way back in the 60s and 70s. Old muggles seem to always be talking about the 60s and 70s."

Francesca finished the picture with a flourish, adding two stars on aunt Jessi's face, directly below her left eye. "Anyway, aunt Jessi tells me that teenagers today don't have proper social conscience. And she tells me about sit-ins and protests." Franchesca looked up and sighed, "talking about how when she was young they were fighting a battle against evil and tyranny."

Francesca shivered slightly, looked across the grounds and said in a sad voice, "It was all I could do to keep quiet…..Not to scream out WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE IN NOW? WE ARE IN THE BIGGEST WAR EVER?"

"But…, she's a muggle. I couldn't tell her."

Every student knew that, even if on the surface, everything seemed normal, nothing WAS normal this year..

"Did you learn any of those macramé knots?" asked Ginny with a smile, "dad would think they're great."

But Francesca was not listening. She was staring across the lawn at a boy sitting under a tree with a group of 6th years. Ginny got up and quickly walked over to the group to talk to Harry, Neville and Ron.

Liam, Angel and Francesca joined them. Looking up, Harry stopped in mid-sentence. "Happy Birthday Angel," said Harry. "Ye, Happy Birthday," said Ron and Neville in unison. "Hey, Harry, you know, it is very important when someone becomes 16," said Ron, "probably needs some kind of special ceremony!"

"Don't you dare!" said Ginny. Everyone smiled. Harry, Ron and Neville had just begun to tell everyone about the DADA class they had that day when Angel's stomach growled with hunger.

"This is all extremely interesting, " said Angel, "but food awaits." Everyone got up and walked towards the castle.

Noticing that Francesca had been very quiet and was walking more slowly than the rest, Ginny stayed back to talk to her. "You really like him, don't you?" said Ginny.

Francesca blushed, smiled and turned her head slightly. Yes, she had liked him for years. But she always became shy every time she was around him. He had even gone to the Yule Ball with Ginny two years before. Yes, Neville sure was cool.